Bound By Blood
by Taika Magicat
Summary: Pairings- KuroFai - Very fast paced - Stuck living in a cramped apartment in a new country without the "kids"- probably not their favorite arrangement. Things only get worse when Kurogane is attacked as he waits for Fai...
1. Chapter 1

OoC:// An AW fanfic, done after Nihon country. I haven't gotten around to reading farther than the beginning of Syaoran's battle with the vampire hunter dude, so yeahs. But I'm sure this isn't at all what happens. :B

Anyway... chapter one! ^^ All done in Kurogane's PoV, and sorry that most of it is rambling... P: I had to get through all that crap so I can move forward with the plot, which will hopefully be fast. I hate slow plots. ^^;;

Kuro-pii curses a lot. x3 //

.::~;*;~::.

The sky rumbled and rain began to patter against the concrete. A dark silhouette shifted impatiently under the gentle caress of droplets on his head and shoulders. "Where _is_ he?" Kurogane muttered in annoyance, glancing around. The damn mage had left in search of who knows what _hours_ ago, telling Kurogane not to move an inch before running off. Or rather, skipping. "I cannot unsee that, I cannot unsee that, I cannot unsee that," He hissed against the rain, the image of Fai skipping off now stuck in his mind. "What the HELL is is problem..." His mumbled words were nearly drowned by the pounding rain; fingers quickly tightened the hood framing his face. His eyes drifted upward as the moon grew brighter. For a long moment, the full glowing moon leered down at him, then the clouds moved back over it and he looked around again for Fai. Dammit, if he knew the way to the apartment, he'd be long gone bu now. Just because Syaoran had gone to the dream world where Sakura was and Mokona was back in Japan watching over the two bodies... He shook his head and contemplated the world they were in now. Apparently, this country was called Sahratelis, and it was peaceful with surrounding countries but very busy. Fai had spent the entire day dragging Kurogane around buying random trinkets and searching for a quiet spot. He'd dumped Kurogane behind a park and told him he'd be right back with a surprise. He would've followed him, but... Shit. The skipping was back. He groaned and wished for the millionth time that day he'd stayed at the two-room apartment. Yuuko had informed them that they'd be staying in Sahratelis country for a long while, and getting a half-off apartment was cheaper than staying in a hotel. Damn witch. There wasn't even a proper fucking bed in the place. Damn mage. He was probably enjoying the couch right now. And it was Fai's turn to sleep on the floor.

The ninja shifted around again uncomfortably – it was probably around midnight and he was still standing in the rain. More worried about hypothermia and that sort of shit than anything else, he started to pace back and forth. He decided to try calling Fai again, the damn mage hadn't answered before, but you never know. He pulled out the little device they'd gotten dirt cheap from a street vendor earlier that day and punched in the now-familiar seven digits quickly. He pressed it to his ear and waited. The little phone rang out as he turned and continued his pacing and then again. It rang a few more times and then went to the answering machine. Kurogane had been expecting the cool woman's voice again, so he listened incredulously to the new message.

"You've reached Fai D. Flouright, please leave a message after the beep!" A pause. "Kuro-rin, stay where you are!" Kurogane stayed silent for a moment after the small beep, in pure shock. Then he sucked in an angry breath and fairly screamed.

"DAMN MAGE, COME PICK ME UP! QUIT FUCKING AROUND!" He clicked off the little object he'd just been yelling at and shoved it into his pocket. He glowered into the rain, suddenly realizing that he was shaking with the cold. He hissed and stuck his hands into his pockets, hunched his shoulders over, started pacing again. A warm breeze swept gently through and pushed back Kurogane's wet hair, then left him colder than ever. He snarled his frustration up at the clouded sky, and it answered back with a grumble and flash of lightening. His skin was getting used to the cold by now, and his shivering went down. He turned and kicked the metal bench next to the side walk he was on. It let out a mournful ringing wound and the sky answered again. A deafening roar rumbled and grew, then let out a loud clap and gave way to claw-like lightening. Thunder growled again and on the louder explosion at the end the rain – which had eased a bit at this point – started hammering down harder than ever. The now frigid wind bit at Kurogane, sending him shuddering again as blue-white streaks ripped open the skies once more.

He was suddenly reminded of a strip comic they'd seen earlier. He couldn't remember what it was called – comics were a popular career here, as the easy going people loved to laugh – where a little yellow kicks a snowman and a snowstorm starts up. He grinned ruefully, apparently kicking a metal bench started a rainstorm. He amused himself for a while with the thought of gods and goddesses overprotective of snowmen and metal benches. He himself didn't usually give much thought to creation or higher forces, but idiot gods might be fun just to laugh at. Strange enough, considering idiot people pissed him off to no end.

"Damn mage," He growled, the sky emphasizing each word with a small roar of its own. As the sky lit up his glaring face, he mused that he was a bit partial to the stormy heavens, as it seemed to match his anger perfectly. _Here I am waiting for Fai, and all I have to do is bond with the sky._ He shook his head sadly. _I'd better start looking for my missing marbles now. _The sky gave and annoyed bark of thunder and lit up briefly. Annoyed...? Now he _really_ needed to get on his hands and knees and look for those elusive marbles of sanity. He decided that he must have found one of the metaphorical orbs or something, because the storm gave several last spurts of thunder and lightening and started to quiet down. As the rain slowed, the air warmed. He realized that he'd be lucky as hell to get out of this with a simple cold, and blamed Fai for ditching him in the first place. At least now he had an idea for a way to get money here. They'd spent most of what they had already, which he again blamed on Fai. They were lucky that the people of Sahratelis were so crazy about black and white comic strips; that he'd probably be able to draw without too much trouble. Of course, he'd force Fai to help- he wasn't about to do all of the freaking work.

He sniffed – now his nose was running, too – and glanced up at a rustling sound. Before him was a large sidewalk, with two dark alleys on either side and a short space to the lit up city. Cars were rushing back and forth, and bits of neon signs flashed at him through the space, but the sound was much closer. He turned around, sharp ears straining to hear the noise again. A knee-high fence wrapped up the edge of a wide park neatly, keeping in the long grass and bushes at the edge.

His eyes zoned in on a moving leaf, then the sound and movement stopped. He waited; nothing.

"Hey," He called to the bush. Still nothing. He warily turned and kept half an eye on the spot, it was probably now two in the morning. "Damn mage," He muttered, then cursed himself as well for being enough of an idiot to not find out where the apartment was.

The rustling began again, and he was completely turned around and had his sword in his hand when it came at him. A large object slammed into his chest, knocking the breath out of him. Two heavy paws shoved down his shoulders as he let out the rest of his air and gasped in more. Claws gripped his shirt and tore holes in it. One back paw dug into his stomach, the other pinned down his sword arm at the elbow. He reached up and grabbed the thing's neck. It was growling madly, spit flicked out onto his face. It was a _huge _wolf, keeping him down by sheer weight. He could see its wild yellow eyes, thrashing around as it fought his hand. Sweat mixed with the earlier rain dripped down his face, and his elbow finally gave in. The huge head came down fast, one of its paws slipped off his shoulder, fangs sank down into his shoulder. His jaws came open to cry out, no sound was made. The razor-like fangs stung as they clamped on his shoulder hard, and the stinging slowly started to spread.

The fangs ripped out of his shoulder, causing just as much pain, and the wolf jumped back. It leaned back and howled wildly, mad eyes rolling. His own crimson eyes locked onto its size, and he drunkenly realized it was four times the height of the fence. Not to mention it had the hugest set of shoulders, wider and bulkier than even his own, and completely covered with glistening black fur. It bared its yellow teeth at him before leaping away into the park, licking Kurogane's blood off of its muzzle. It was swallowed by the bush and the sound disappeared, leaving an eerie silence.

It vaguely clicked that he needed to cover his shoulder or he'd bleed to death. He could feel his entire arm practically fizzing, and half of his chest covered with the weird pain. He sat up slowly, panting with the effort, and grabbed his shirt. He ripped it open, wincing as parts of it detached from the holes in his body. He tore a large chunk off and balled it up, pressing it to the spot. He clenched his teeth and hissed at the stinging, which flared up with the pressure, but he felt less blood dripping down his stomach. He pulled away the cloth and stared in shock at his skin- seconds ago, it had been a gross mix of black and purple dripping with blood. Now there were simply little scabs arranged in a jaw format. He started to twist to glance at the back of his shoulder, but the fire started again when he moved. He had to sit for a few moments before it drew back, and he blinked away the red glazing over his vision. He glanced back at his chest, the scabs were gone now and all that remained was a series of scars and a lot of still-dripping blood. He wiped off the blood from his chin that had spurted out of his mouth without him knowing as the beast's paw dug into his stomach.

Then he dropped back to the pavement. The fire was clutching his neck, pushing up to his jaw. Both of his arms were enveloped, and his waist was being taken with it as well. He could feel the fire prickling his heart, then his head whipped back. The excruciating flames were all over him, tearing at his body from the inside. His heart felt like it might explode, and his head was throbbing so hard he couldn't register anything other than pain. His body convulsed, his head, waist, and elbows dug into the cement and his chest heaved upward. He didn't know how much longer he could take it before he'd pass out, the fire was so hot and his body was spasming from the pain.

Then, there was a gradual cool. His fingers and toes calmed down, then his elbows, knees, waist. The cool sped up and then the flames were gone. He panted heavily, turning to curl up. His cheeks were caked with dried tears, and his blood was smeared over the pavement from his thrashing. It hadn't lasted long, and already his mind was blocking out the memory. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the concrete under him. The scratchy cold felt good, even covered in his blood. He sighed deeply.

"I wish Fai was here..." He muttered reluctantly. It was still all the magician's fault for ditching him, but if nothing else he needed someone to drag him to the apartment. And he'd just love to punch that freaking smiling face.

It had nothing to do with the fact that he knew the hyper-active blond would probably act mom-ish and hug him, and then most likely kiss the silvery scars on his chest.

Not at all.

He sighed and closed his eyes, thoughts floating around randomly.


	2. Chapter 2

OoC:// Mmmm, I'd say I'm on fire, but I'm actually freezing! D': But I'm too lazy to walk allllll the way across my house to get a jacket or even up the STAIRS for socks. ;3;

I'm so lazy. :3 Ahh, well.

lol, I've listened to Let it Rock /so/ many times while typing this... ^^;;

Oh, and by the way, I'm just going to use -tan for when Fai thinks of Kurogane. It's just easier like that for me because it differentiates between Kurogane himself and when Fai thinks of him, and I don't have to choose a different ending every time. :B I was also going to make this longer at first, but it was at a good spot to break off. Just at three pages is now my default for length. Meh. :|

Enjoy the little bit of fluff at the very end. That was mostly for my own needs tee hee

I'll shut up now. :| Enjoy, I hope~! //

.::~;*;~::.

Fai frowned, he'd been _sure_ that this was the one! Of course, he'd thought that about all of the other alleyways he'd explored.

He had wanted to buy Kuro-tan the black leather collar with a dog charm on it, but it had taken him until sunset to find the store again. And now, it was probably about three in the morning. He'd been exploring all of the silent shadowed alleyways, all with no success. He _had_ to find Kuro-tan, because the poor ninja didn't even know the apartment they were staying in. He gnawed on his nails anxiously, finally making the decision to get a taxi to the park. There was only one, and behind the short fence was where he'd skipped away from the other man.

He stepped back into the busy city life; it was like a completely different world from the silent alleys. He lifted a hand and waved wildly until a bright yellow car stopped. He slipped into the back, handing up the last of their money.

"The park, please," There was only one park in the whole country, the rest of the land was either civilized or used for farming. The driver nodded and pulled back into the quickly moving cars. The roads here were built with the specific intention of cutting down traffic time, and it worked amazingly well. He fiddled with the small ring on his finger as the driver sped smoothly forward. They'd had to temporarily trade Mokona for the translating rings, and then Yuuko had had the little white meat bun, as Kuro-tan put it, stay with Syaoran and Sakura's bodies in Nihon country.

The car turned and continued for a while, then the driver pulled over. "Uh, you gave me enough to keep going... I'll wait here." He mumbled. Fai nodded and hopped out. He pushed open the metal gate, shivering as it slid forward without a sound. It made him feel like he was trespassing, even if the park was open to anyone at any time. He ran across the grass, heading straight for the clump of bushes growing openly at the edge of the field. He hopped around the bushes, pausing only for a moment when he saw paw prints in the ground. It was probably only someone's dog or something had been back here, though, so he continued until he reached the fence. He stepped over it and gasped.

He dodged around the bench and crouched down next to a curled up Kuro-tan, cupping his cheek. "Kurogane?" He asked uncertainly, looking around at all the blood. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, though. Fai sighed in relief as Kuro-tan opened his eyes, glaring up at the blond.

"It's about time, damn mage." He growled out, sitting up.

"Kuro-pii!" He exclaimed, tackle-hugging the ninja.

"Don't be a sap." Kuro-tan snapped, tugging at Fai's arm irritably. "God, where in fuck have you been?!"

Fai leaned back, steadying himself in his crouching position. "Uh, it's a bit of a long story. There's a cab over there; can you walk?" He looked at Kuro-tan's open slice of tan skin worriedly, but there weren't any open wounds.

"....Yeah," The ninja pushed himself to his feet and blinked, having to reach out and steady himself on Fai's shoulder as his head buzzed. Then the head rush receded and the gray crept back. "Lead the way," He mumbled. Fai lead him around the bench and over the fence. He pulled off his jacket as Kuro-tan carefully stepped over the low fence, and handed it to the other man, who was shivering slightly. He grunted and slipped it on, zipping it over his half-covered chest. The pair set off across the park field. Kuro-tan stumbled a few times, and each time Fai steadied him. They eventually made it back to the gates, and were both relieved to slide into the taxi.

"7,865th street, apartment 11 of Winded Heights," Fai gave the driver the information, Kuro-tan twitching beside him. Fai grinned ruefully, if Kuro-tan had know that, then he wouldn't have been lying in a pool of blood on the concrete at... He leaned over to look at the clock. 4:28 AM. As the car started up again, the driver slid shut the glass divider between the front and passenger seats.

"Seven _thousand_?" Kuro-tan asked incredulously.

"They started at one, apparently." Fai answered chirpily. Kuro-tan muttered something under his breath. Fai leaned back in his seat, supposing that he should explain where he'd been. "Okay, so I went back to find what I wanted to get you, but it took me until sundown to find the store! Then I was looking for where I left you but I couldn't find you. So, then I decided that it wasn't worth it and gave this guy the rest of our money to take us to the park and now the apartment." He took in a breath. "What happened to you?"

"Holy fuck..." Kuro-tan muttered, looking out the window. "Okay, so I waited in the rainstorm, and then got attacked by I swear was four times as tall as that fence, which was a bit shorter than my knee. It bit my shoulder, howled, and ran off. I felt like I was on fire for a while, then I was magically healed. And I curled up on the cement and you found me."

Fai was quiet for a long time, mulling this over. "You say a huge wolf...?" He murmured to himself, Kuro-tan not bothering to answer. He leaned to the window and stared outside. The full moon hung in the sky, covered only by thin clouds. "Ohhhhhh no," He turned back to Kuro-tan. "Open my jacket and let me take a look at your shoulder."

"You want me to strip in a taxi." The tan man deadpanned. Fai sighed impatiently.

"Fine, but I need to see it when we get to the apartment."

"Why? What's wrong with me?" He grumbled with a bit of suspicion. Fai just shook his head and stared out the window worriedly. This earned him a death glare, but for once he was too distracted to notice. Normally, he would relish the chance to bother the ninja, but now his mind was whirring with other thoughts. If he was right, then the situation could be a huge annoyance and probably danger. He crossed his fingers inconspicuously, but he knew that when he was right, he was right.

.::~;*;~::.

Back at their cramped apartment, Fai immediately turned and pulled the jacket off of Kurogane, leaving him half naked. "Hey...!" He shouted as the mage's lithe fingers traced over his right shoulder, leaving goose bumps in their wake. "What the hell?"

"I said I needed to see your shoulder, didn't I?" The blond murmured, face close to Kurogane's skin. He caught himself just before shivering at the cool breath sweeping over his skin, stretching his chin away so to hide his light blush. "Hmmm," He screwed up his face, trying to ignore how he wanted to turn the shorter man and shove him against the wall, claiming dominance and... No. He steadied his breathing, then hid his sigh as Fai drew back. The mage's face was void of its usual smile, which might or might not be a good thing.

"What?" He grumbled, wishing Fai'd just tell him what was up and end all the freaking _tension_.

"Well," Fai crossed his arms and leaned back on his heels. "I'm afraid you've been bitten by a werewolf." Well, that wasn't at all what he was expecting, but at least he didn't have to wonder about the same thing.

"And that means...?"

"You'll probably grow fur, ears, a tail, a muzzle, and a tail every month?" Fai frowned. "I don't know much about them, but you might have some wolfish features as well... It probably depends about how long the one who bit you has been changing."

"...are werewolves a big problem here?" He was running out of questions, and soon would have to face that fact that he was going to turn into a big wolf with the full moon.

"I didn't hear anything about it, it was probably just one running around. In a big city like this, they'd either cause a huge problem or be caught right away."

"I'd rather menstruate every month," He muttered ruefully to himself. Fai shrugged and made a little awkward smile.

He twitched as light suddenly flickered onto the carpet, then sighed heavily. He looked up, glared at Fai.

"I get the couch tonight."

"Yeah..." Fai laughed, scratched the back of his head.

Kurogane stumbled forward to the couch – it had finally hit him just how exhausted he was – and immediately fell completely unconscious.

Unbeknown to the sleeping man, whispering lips ran across his jaw, paused, then left. If he'd been dreaming, surely a light tingling feeling would've followed after.


	3. Chapter 3

OoC:// Nyahaha I'm addicted to writing this, now. 3

lol we got the day off from school today, so I have time for another chapter.

Hmm, I feel like .Project's writing style is rubbing off on me. ^^;;

This was gonna be longer, but I have to go to bed. :c

Enjoy all the self-conflict! :3 //

.::~;*;~::.

"Fooooooooood," Kurogane moaned as he woke up with an empty stomach. On the floor, a blond head lifted up.

"No money," Fai yawned, sitting up and stretching.

"Meh," The black haired man scratched at his head and blinked in the afternoon light flickering across the floor. "I could do with a big bloody steak right about now..."

"Speaking of blood..." Fai murmured, not surprised that Kurogane's choice of steak had changed with the new molecules in his body. Said man mumbled something and stood, wandered off to the separate kitchen. He came back moments later with their only knife, kneeling next to the still-sitting blond and slicing open the scar on his arm. He felt Fai's lips press against the cut, sucking gently. The familiar feeling of pleasure and rushing blood in his arm followed suit, giving him a temporary heightened sense of floating. Then it was over, Fai's tongue scrapping across the cut so that it closed up again.

Kurogane stared into that golden eye, and without knowing it, reached out to wipe the dribble of his blood from the corner of Fai's lips. Which at the moment, was looking very inviting.

"Kuro-puppy...?" Fai spoke quietly, uncertainly, breaking the spell.

"Uh. We need to do something to get money." He said randomly, albeit legitimately. He pretended not to see the disappointment and hint of sadness in the smile answering his words, looked away to hide the blush on his tan skin. "We should try making one of those comic things." He added awkwardly.

"Yeah..." The so obviously forced smile grew wider. "Yeah, sounds like fun!" Kurogane stood and retreated to the kitchen, using the pretense of putting away the knife to stop himself from punching the mage. That smile had so much pain in it- he couldn't stand it! It was so obvious how Fai felt when he tried to hide it all with a smile, yet Kurogane couldn't admit to himself that what he saw reflected what he wanted. He just wasn't ready to say it to himself, much less aloud, and clung to the hatred he'd noticed slipping away as the days flew by.

His stomach growled at him, and he opened the empty cabinets, glaring at them in annoyance. Dammit, he needed to eat!

Suddenly, his eyes started to water. "Ahh...!" He stood still for a split second, then doubled over as he sneezed. Just like that, the night before in the rain caught up with him. He sniffed, rubbing his nose. He had noticed but hadn't payed attention to his stuffed up sinuses before, but now it was impossible to breath through his nose. "Fushmitass," He mumbled, but the string of curses were muttled ( I refuse to believe that is not a word 8I ) together. He glanced up, hearing footsteps from behind him.

"Ahh, Kuro-nyan needs to go lie down!" Fai took the knife from him and set it next to the sink, pushing him towards the other room. "Go on, Big Puppy! Mommy will take care of the dishes, Daddy needs to get better~"

"I'm not a fucking puppy and I'm not a da-" He broke off coughing, muttering "Daddy, either..." as he stumbled back to the couch. Once lying down, he snorted. "It doesn't count as dishes if there's only a knife!" He shouted, squeezing out the last three words as he sneezed again.

"I'll make you some tea to get better, okay?" The mage called back happily, ignoring Kurogane's comments.

"Yeah, whatever," He muttered, lying back and letting his eyes close.

"Here!" He blinked and sat up a few minutes later, accepting the cup and blowing on the steaming tea.

"Since when do we have the means to boil water?" He murmured, then sipped at the hot liquid.

"There's a knob for it on the sink!" Fai smiled down at him, but this time it was different. Like it really came from his heart. Kurogane stared at him

"What is it?" He asked.

"What's what?" Fai turned his head to the side, still smiling.

"What is it that's making you smile so truly?" He elaborated his question, still staring at the blond.

"Oh," He faltered for a second, as if realizing that his usual smiles didn't look as real as he maybe wished. "It's just, being able to take care of Kuro-ran, it makes me happy."

"Mm," He wasn't sure if he was surprised by that, or if he was angry at all. Of course, what reason did he have to be angry? Because it was how he was used to feeling? That was stupid.

Okay, _now_ he was annoyed- at himself. There was no reason to fight with himself, and yet he was scared to give in. But _why_? What was it that he was afraid of? Not having something to fight? As a ninja, he was trained to never give in. But he knew that that wasn't really an excuse. He sighed, raised the cup to his lips again. He finished it, feeling the warmth spread through his chest. He turned his head to the side, coughed, realized that Fai was still standing there smiling. He looked up, feeling himself get caught in the gold again. Really, blue had been more fitting.

"So, have any ideas for the money earning plan?" Fai broke the silence this time, bringing back the topic of their broke status.

"Yeah, I thought of something yesterday..." He shrugged, remembering the cold rain lashing at him.

"Goody!" Fai clapped happily, went around the low wooden table, sat down. He pushed aside all the junk he'd gotten the day before, popping open a stack of computer paper he'd thought to buy before running out of cash. He poked around at the mess, finding a pencil and a long, straight device called a ruler. "Okay, so what it is?" He looked up, smiling excitedly. Kurogane coughed and leaned over to his side, trying to find the best way to word his idea.

.::~;*;~::.

"Anddddd, done!" Fai capped set down the eraser, blew on the shavings covering the table. They rolled off of the table easily, disappearing in the carpet. "Phew, that should be enough for now~"

"I guess," Kuro-tan's coughing hadn't gone down at all, and Fai had given him the last of the tea a while ago. The ninja was now covered with all of the blankets used for whoever slept on the floor, still lying on the couch. Fai frowned, worried that he would only get worse.

_And I'm supposed to be the optimistic one,_ He thought ruefully. _Smile, smile like you mean it, Fai._ He'd been a bit shocked, to say the least, when Kuro-tan had revealed that knew when Fai hid behind a smile. But he was too scared to let it go, to say what he really felt. He was scared of what Kuro-tan would think, as well. He didn't want to be hurt, as selfish as that was. He really only wanted to love and be loved, but he didn't know if that was possible.

After all, he was still an unlucky twin.

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, thinking of living with Kuro-tan. He managed to smile – hopefully – from the heart, stretched out his cramped legs, gathered together the scattered paper. They'd ended up using all of the paper in the packet, and then cut out the individual strips. It was just a little comic about a grumpy guy who always had a storm above his head, that thundered whenever something annoyed him. And there were other characters, of course. He thought most of them were pretty funny, so they should be able to make money off of them.

"Well, it's really late, so you should stay here," He laughed, Kuro-tan was glaring at him again.

"Ugh, just don't say anything stupid,"

"Of course not~" He sang, getting up.


	4. Chapter 4

OoC:// I... I really have no excuse for not updating. ;~; It's not like I have a life, anyway.

But uhm, review for a brownie? Cookies are used too much. D8

Huh, I'm rediscovering why I hate anything manila, though. X-x Damn English project, damn biography, damn manila envelopes, damn them to hell. Hell, I say! D8

A quick word on Sahratelis- it's not like New York in how it looks, but they're both cities where hardly anyone sleeps. I'll draw it sometime when I have the courage to try a city, along with possibly some of the comic strips Kuro and Fai made xD;; And sorry if there are any inconsistencies about it in the other chapters, it's been planned the same way since the beginning, only I didn't have a 'perfect spot' to explain everything. So....yes.

Peanuts is © Charles M. Schulz. Chirpily can be a word if I want it to.

Enjoy. C: //

.::~;*;~::.

Fai skipped out of the apartment after having gathered everything up into a manila envelope, grinning to himself as the expected groan from behind him sounded. After closing the door, he walked normally, taking the elevator down and exiting the building. It was one in the morning according to the digital clock tower, but of course, the people of Sahratelis were still bustling around, the city crawling with life and neon signs. He turned down the sidewalk and headed down it for one... two... three... four... five... six... seven... eight blocks. He joined the huge mob of people already gathered there, and waited patiently until the cars stopped. They were interesting machines, hovering over the road by magnetism, as he'd been told the day before. They moved with flippers on the sides, powered by dirt. When the magnet on the bottom of the car was intensified, it rose higher. The people had put forth long years of work to get the process correct, and the metal of the cars below didn't interfere with the higher ones. It was an interesting concept, as were the shoes. If you reached down and twisted a knob on the sides of either of them, they also reacted to the magnets in the road and street corners. It was like walking on air! And to make it even better, you could glance down and watch your footsteps glow blue on the road.

Finally at the building where he wanted to be, he tuned up his shoes and rose slowly. He entered the place on the exact level he wanted, perfectly lined up with the height he'd just been off the ground. Inside was just like a street market, excepting the fact that it was indoors. He passed several stalls selling a number of dirt cheap magnetic objects, from shoes to stroller wheels as well as the city's famous comic strips. The farther in he got, the bigger the character sections got. The more popular, the huger the amount of fan ware there was. Like the Peanuts... _horde_. There was no other way to describe the massive collection of stalls, overflowing with books, things called DVDs, plushies, cell phone tops, and every other imaginable thing you could never need. He noticed some other awkward people clutching any sort of envelope, and joined them.

"Hello," He spoke chirpily to one of the people, a man with messy brown hair. The man looked up, checking that it was him being spoken to before replying.

"Hey, how's it going?" The guy had an out-of-it sort of voice, as if he didn't really care about anything.

"Good. I'm Fai D. Flourite, and you?" Their group was growing steadily, and he saw that they were headed for a big door in a gap between the stalls.

"Samuel K. Flurry," The man raised his eyebrows at Fai. "But you can call me Sam."

"Fai for me," He laughed airily, just as they reached the large door. Someone at the front shoved it open, and they poured in. Inside was an extremely long room, furnished only with a line of chairs leading up to a desk at the end. "Musical chairs?" He guessed, causing the other to laugh. They got decent places, considering how far back some people were. People continued to crowd in, shoving for a better spot. Fai made a show of clutching his envelope with one hand and his chair with the other as if either might be swiped at any moment, earning another chuckle. And so began their amazingly long wait.

.::~;*;~::.

"Three more!" Sam exclaimed as they finally, _finally_, approached the desk where the seventh or eighth lady with an incredible amount of patience waited. Of course, that was a necessity in a job where you looked through the work of people who were more often than not broke idiots with no talent. Not to brag, but Fai had found that his 'okay' cartooning skills were looking better and better with each flash of an out of proportion shaky character he caught. When he'd asked about the easiest way to make money, he'd been told to draw up some strips and head for the welcoming desk in the seventh floor of the main comic-ing strip building. What he hadn't been told was that the desk was simply to sort through the people who simply needed stall space – this also included the people who would learn on their own that, no, they _weren't_ funny, the ones who could be run through in a major newspaper – a great honor, the ones who had great ideas but horrible art – those would be paid for their ideas while others drew, and vice versa with the previous. He and Sam both had their sights set on stalls; neither of the two thought they could make a newspaper, though it was a great dream.

"Two," Fai continued the count-down as the entire procession moved forward a spot. The plastic chairs weren't all that comfortable, but it was better than having to stand for hours on end. If they'd been windows, he was convinced that the sun would have already risen. Sam had waved this away every time he said it, telling him that it wouldn't be up for a while yet. Actually, seeing as the only thing to do to pass the time was talking, they'd argued about it for quiet a while. Grinning slightly to himself, he turned to said brunette, taking on a sing-song voice. "The sun is up, the sun is up, the sun is up!"

"It is not!" Sam grumbled at him for bringing it up again, looking like he was about to say something else, cut off by moving to the last chair in the line. The person ahead of them suddenly seemed to re-think his decision, and scurried around the desk to the door in the back. They'd already established that they'd meet up again outside, but only to see about the sun thing. Fai bounced into the last chair, while the other man stood to speak with the calm black-haired woman. He didn't pay much attention to what they were saying, only noticing that the artwork was definitely good. After a bit of discussion, she gave him a one page form she'd filled out, and he left. But not before turning and winking at Fai. He blinked in surprise, then shrugged and stood before the person behind him could complain.

"Name, age, title of work..." The woman started asking him questions, and he answered each easily. When he left, there was another person coming to relieve her. And she did look extremely relieved.

.::~;*;~::.

When Fai exited the building at last, he found that the sun was, in fact, _not_ up. "Dammit," He grumbled, falling slowly to the ground after twisting the knobs on his shoes. Below was a smugly smirking Sam waiting for him, fanning himself with his packet and form. The lose paper followed the solid packet slowly, and he held both tightly.

"Told you it wasn't up yet,"

"Yeah, yeah," Fai brushed it off by waving his hand around, not really caring that he'd been wrong.

"Anyway, did you get a stall?" Sam inquired, leaning forward as if to look at Fai's paper. The blond held it away from the curious green eyes – not that he'd be able to read it with the warm wind making it flap around.

"I haven't looked yet." He was forced to confess. "You?"

"Same here," The other man shrugged. "On three?"

"Sure," He agreed.

"One, two," The brunette closed his eyes tightly, holding the paper away from him as if he looked early, it'd zap him. "Three!" They glanced down. Fai smiled in relief when he saw the red stamp at the empty space on the bottom read 'FLOOR 22 STALL NUMBER' and written in was 67938452. However, Sam groaned. "Man, floor twenty-two. That sucks."

"Is there something bad about that?" He peeked over at the other's form, seeing that it read stall number 67938451.

"Not really, you just have to go in at floor ten and then up to twenty from the inside, then up a different chute to twenty-two. It's a drag."

"Well, at least we don't have to take stairs!" This got him a sightly weird look from the other, as if stairs were a weird concept.

"I suppose you're right... anyway, if seven is for big... 'fandoms', I guess, twenty-two best place for a huge variety of different strips, because that's where all the newbies are sent. Most of the other floors are for meetings and other business shit." He shrugged. "I guess twenty-two is like a new seven, since seven is so sophisticated." Fai wanted to laugh at that- sophisticated comic strips, his ass. But the other was completely serious, so he suppressed it. For the most part, anyway.

A few pink and orange streaks twisted up through the sky from the horizon, followed suit by a tangled mass of twisting bursts of color clawing up seemingly from the earth far away. "Look..." He murmured, captured by the wondrous display of explosive colors. Sam turned and shrugged at it. Fai stared at him, startled out of his daze.

"It gets old after seeing it every day of your life," The man shrugged again. He was stunned at how anyone could ever get tired of something so beautiful, but sighed and decided that it was probably time he got back to the apartment.

"I should go, I've got a sick puppy to take care of," In his mind, he imagined Kuro-tan yelling at him for that.

"Oh, hope your puppy gets better soon... which direction are you going?"

"Across the street and eight blocks that way," Fai pointed out the way he meant, ending up with his arm hanging awkwardly in the air. He dropped it.

"Hm, seems we're going he same direction, then." Sam didn't wait any longer, stepping back onto the corner of the sidewalk and raising himself up. Fai went up after him, and they managed to get across in the remaining few seconds of the red light. The two floated slowly down, then turned right and started walking again.

.::~;*;~::.

Kurogane was awoken by the door opening quietly, and then closed again. He could hear Fai tip-toeing behind the couch, and predicted that the mage looked like an idiot. He rolled over. Yep. Idiot.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," The blond laughed and scratched at the back of his head.

"If I hadn't woken up, it would mean my skills were deteriorating," He growled, flipping back over.

"How do you feel?" Suddenly Fai was beside the couch, staring at him worriedly.

"Did you get a stall thing?" He ignored the other's question in favor of something he thought to be more important.

"Yeah, and they gave us a little packet of peanuts," The other reached into the envelope he was holding and tossed him said peanuts. He ripped them open immediately and started eating, then held it out. "No, I ate later than you yesterday, go ahead." Kurogane shrugged, figuring that if Fai didn't want them, there was more for him.

Feeling a little less hungry, at least, he sat up and pushed all of the blankets off of him. "We'd better get some money, and soon."

"Erm, actually, we've been invited for dinner at someone's house. I met him at the big comic building thing..."

.::~;*;~::.

_Flashback_

Fai stopped in front of his building. It wasn't accessible from a magnetic corner, so he'd have to go inside and use a chute. "Well, this is me." His stomach growled loudly at him, it had been nearly twenty-four hours since he'd eaten.

"Have you got any food in there?" Sam motioned vaguely at the apartment complex.

"No..." He was forced to admit.

"Well, come over for dinner at my place, then. I'll get my grandma to come down, too, she cooks like nobody's business. I'm two more blocks down, the big red one, apartment 16."

"Thanks," Fai laughed sheepishly at having to be fed by someone he hardly knew.

"Bring your puppy, too." Sam gave a sort of half-wave and left.


End file.
